So interesting! I wasn’t familiar with “synthetic users” and my first reaction is that I share your skepticism. (One use case I can see is using them to surface ideas you might not have considered). Will you write a dedicated post about it one day?
Also appreciate you weaving ethics into the conversation!
Thanks Karo! It gained a lot of attention when it was launched like early last year. Then some other user research tools emerged with a similar concept.
The fusion of design and development with AI is exactly the conversation we should be having! Those workflow examples perfectly illustrate the fundamental shift happening in product development right now. What used to require specialized skills across multiple domains is increasingly becoming accessible to people with varied backgrounds.
What resonates deeply is the ethical concerns around bias and synthetic user research. Having led digital transformation initiatives across platforms, I've seen firsthand how even small biases in our assumptions can dramatically affect outcomes. The blurring of professional lines isn't just changing how we work - it's redefining what skills matter most. The future belongs to those who can critically evaluate AI outputs rather than those who can simply generate them. For anyone interested in practical AI implementation frameworks that balance efficiency with quality control, I've documented some approaches at https://thoughts.jock.pl/p/ai-decision-journal-data-driven-workflow-optimization
Thanks for sharing. I'm curiously peeking into Product Design world after taking a break. Tools have changed quite a lot! This helps me get up to speed.
So interesting! I wasn’t familiar with “synthetic users” and my first reaction is that I share your skepticism. (One use case I can see is using them to surface ideas you might not have considered). Will you write a dedicated post about it one day?
Also appreciate you weaving ethics into the conversation!
Thanks Karo! It gained a lot of attention when it was launched like early last year. Then some other user research tools emerged with a similar concept.
I tried a few and was doubtful. Sure! I may!
The fusion of design and development with AI is exactly the conversation we should be having! Those workflow examples perfectly illustrate the fundamental shift happening in product development right now. What used to require specialized skills across multiple domains is increasingly becoming accessible to people with varied backgrounds.
What resonates deeply is the ethical concerns around bias and synthetic user research. Having led digital transformation initiatives across platforms, I've seen firsthand how even small biases in our assumptions can dramatically affect outcomes. The blurring of professional lines isn't just changing how we work - it's redefining what skills matter most. The future belongs to those who can critically evaluate AI outputs rather than those who can simply generate them. For anyone interested in practical AI implementation frameworks that balance efficiency with quality control, I've documented some approaches at https://thoughts.jock.pl/p/ai-decision-journal-data-driven-workflow-optimization
Thanks for sharing. I'm curiously peeking into Product Design world after taking a break. Tools have changed quite a lot! This helps me get up to speed.